W-a-a-a-a-y back in 1981, once a week, I used to gather up a group of friends for a trip to Leeds, and that amazing club ‘The Warehouse’. As Disco gracefully bowed out the exit door, a whole new musical sub-culture emerged from its ashes, with a sprinkling of post-punk ‘n Bowie thrown in: Enter the [...]
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One of the biggest R&B crossover records of 2008 was of course Flo Rida’s now classic, ‘Low’. To the best of my knowledge then and still now, there were never any officially released House mixes available. Sure, there were plenty of YouTube remix attempts, ranging from ok to plain horrendous, but nothing I’d feel happy [...]
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It’s funny how a sequence of events, and a theme falling together shortly thereafter can lead to a ‘mash-up’ almost suggesting itself. Taking a January winter break at my good friend (and ‘BackTrax‘ partner) Stuart’s Egyptian apartment, we all trotted out one night to Hurghada’s ‘Hed Kandi’ club for a night on the dancefloor. As [...]
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A few years ago I started doing music technology lectures for HE and FE students, where one of my most popular sessions was, ‘The Anatomy of a Remix’. During these sessions I would start with a blank Logic 8 arrange page, and take the students (over a two hour period) through the significant stages of [...]
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Last night’s sad news that Michael Jackson had passed away has of course tidal wave’d around the web today. My personal feelings on this great artist have already been expressed over at DV’s ‘Musical Notes’ blog, but it has brought to mind a ‘mix album’ I did very early on in my career. The ‘Michael [...]
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Here’s a fact – I was the first DJ ever to perform a live mix set on Technics CD decks, sometime around 1987. Of course, at a time when vinyl was king, some may have viewed this as sacrilege. Fast forward to 2005, and I was invited back by Technics and DMC to perform a [...]
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In 1993, I created a record that started life as an underground club anthem, and eventually crossed over into the mainstream pop charts. This track was my career peak, my highest achievement, the laurel I never actually rested on.. It was called ‘Eighteen Strings’, the band/pseudonym, was Tinman! At the time of its high level [...]
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Back in the late 80′s, I did a U2 megamix for DJ subscription service, DMC. This mix was released on vinyl and CD in the public domain. What is not ‘out there’ in the physical and internet world is my original version of this mix. This version was created using much more limited technology than [...]
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They say “never meet your heroes..” Well I’ve met a few of mine. Some disappointed me, some saddened me, and some quite surprised me. May 2004, Tallinn, capital city of Estonia was the time and place. Having played for a local promoter and club owner there who I’ve known since my Ministry of Sound touring [...]
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Known to most as the DMC Epic’s, they were (and not my words) ‘infamous & iconic’ works. One in particular has followed me around through the years. As the Royal Ruler, Tony Prince always reminds any audience I was put in front of, I did, amongst others, the one called ‘Sigue Sigue Sputmix’.
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